The present invention relates to tape cassette players and, particularly to a tape cassette automatic loading apparatus capable of automatically loading a tape cassette on a tape cassette player.
Cassette players, particularly, car tape cassette players that have hitherto been proposed include an automatic loading apparatus in which a tape cassette is automatically pulled into and loaded on a tape cassette player when the tape cassette is inserted into a cassette mouth.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,386 describes an automatic loading apparatus for automatically loading a tape cassette by operating a loading cam gear either by a trigger, such as a plunger or the like or by a movement of a swinging gear under a driving force of a main motor that rotates hub drive shafts, capstans or the like.
The above-mentioned automatic loading apparatus for the tape cassette player becomes complicated from a mechanism standpoint. Also, in this previously-proposed automatic loading apparatus, the tape cassette tends to be pulled in, ejected, elevated or lowered with a delay of timing. There is then the defect that the automatic loading apparatus becomes unable to load and/or eject the tape cassette.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,236 describes an automatic loading apparatus which includes a control motor exclusively-designed for an automatic loading apparatus. In this example of automatic loading apparatus, a cassette housing for loading and accommodating a tape cassette is engaged with and/or disengaged from the hub drive shafts, the capstans or the like, by directly elevating and/or lowering the tape cassette through a guide cam groove formed in an intermediate disc. Therefore, when an external force is applied to the cassette housing in which the tape cassette is loaded and accommodated, the external force is directly applied to an engagement portion composed of a sliding plate and a guide cam opening. The engagement portion is rigid and the cassette housing and the sliding plate are deformed unavoidably. There is then the risk that the automatic loading apparatus becomes unable to load the tape cassette.